If you, like so many others, have already marathoned your way through Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt Season 2, then you undoubtedly noticed that our leading lady has picked up a rather curious habit throughout her most recent adventures. I'm referring, of course, to her random belching, which has happened on more than one occasion. So why does Kimmy keep burping? Anyone familiar with the Robert Durst true crime case probably recognized the nervous habit, but for those of you who were still left confused, the question was very helpfully explained by Tina Fey's character Andrea Bayden during Episode 9, "Kimmy Goes to Her Happy Place."
During one of their daily therapy sessions, Andrea's drunk alter ego referred to Kimmy's burps as "Dursting," which is a nod to Robert Durst's own real-life burping incidents on the HBO documentary The Jinx. The docuseries followed Durst who was arrested and charged with murder in 2015, according to CNN. Many viewers alleged that his burps were his body's involuntary reaction to feeling nervous when put under pressure. According to BBC News, Durst has always maintained his innocence.
On Kimmy Schmidt, Andrea explains Kimmy's burping to her saying, "You've got some bad stuff inside," Andrea explained to Kimmy during their Uber ride. "And your body is trying to blast it out through your face's mouth." And as drunkly put together as that sentence sounds, it actually makes a lot of sense. Kimmy always tries to gloss over her issues and pretend like everything is fine. But, even if you can manage to lie to yourself and others about what you're really feeling, you can't lie to your body. So these "stinky burps" of hers was just Kimmy's body trying to bring those emotions to the surface... via gas bubbles.
Andrea also described the burping by using the term "peristalsis," which is a series of muscle contractions that take place in a person's digestive tract. According to MedScape, which cited Chief of Gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School, Dr. David Johnson, excessive burping of this nature is called "supragastric belching" and is typically a behavioral issue commonly caused by stress. Or, as Fey's Andrea puts it: "When you shove your problems down, they're going to bust out in weird ways."
Luckily, Kimmy was able to confront her mom and release some of that built up tension, so the belching will most likely occur much less from here on out.
Images: Eric Liebowitz/Netflix (2); Giphy
